V 


'•  -V 


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« 


THE  NEW  AERIGA. 

SEVENTH  ANNUAL  PAPER. 


Interest  in  the  opening  of  Africa  continues  unabated,  and  signs 
are  numerous  that  the  time  of  her  uplifting  has  come.  Marvellous 
discoveries  are  oeing  constantly  made,  and  the  darkness  that  has  be- 
gloomed  the  vast  interior  for  centuries  is  being  gradually  dispersed. 
Its  majestic  rivers  are  being  traced  to  their  sources  and  its  beautiful 
lakes  surveyed.  Christian  enlightenment  is  penetrating  the  “Dark  Con- 
tinent” from  almost  every  prominent  point,  and  the  brightest  features 
of  modern  civilization  are  penetrating  everywhere. 

GOVERNMENTAL. 

The  extensive  territories  on  the  river  Niger  which,  under  the 
Conference  held  at  Berlin  for  the  distribution  of  colonial  possessions 
in  Africa  were  assigned  to  Great  Britain,  are  to  be  governed  by  a 
company.  A Royal  charter  bestows  on  the  National  African  Com- 
pany powers  of  governing  and  defending  the  territories  it  has 
acquired  from  native  Princes,  covering  the  entire  “basin  of  the 
Niger,”  equal  to  those  possessed  by  the  old  East  India  Company  in 
India.  They  can,  for  example,  raise  troops,  issue  a coinage,  and  pass 
laws.  The  consent  of  the  English  Secretary  of  State  is  necessary 
to  all  their  acts,  and  the  Company  cannot  divide  the  pro- 
duce of  customs  duties  as  profits  or  other  taxes,  but  must  expend 
them  upon  the  administration  of  its  territories.  The  following  are 
some  of  the  more  salient  clauses  of  the  new  charter: — 

1.  The  said  Company  is  authorized  and  empowered  to  hold  and 
retain  the  full  benefit  of  the  cessions  mentioned  in  the  preliminary 
statement,  and  all  rights  and  powers  for  the  purposes  of  government 
and  preservation  of  public  orler  over  the  territories,  lands,  and  prop- 
erty comprised  in  these  cessions,  or  affecting  any  territories,  lands,  or 
property  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  same,  and  to  hold,  use,  enjoy, 
and  exercise  the  same  powers  for  the  purposes  of  the  Company  and 
on  the  terms  ol  this  charter. 

2.  The  Company  shall  be  bound  by  and  shall  fulfil  all  the  stipu- 
lations contained  in  the  Acts  of  Cessions,  subject  to  any  subsequent 
agreement  affecting  those  stipulations  approved  by  one  of  the  Eng- 
lish Principal  Secretaries  of  State. 


2 


GOVERNMENTAL. 


3.  The  Company  shall  always  be  British  in  character  and  domi- 
cile, and  shall  have  its  principal  office  in  England  ; and  its  principal 
representatives  and  all  the  directors  shall  be  nat'iral  born  British 
subjects  or  persons  naturalized  by  an  Act  of  Parliament. 

4.  The  Company  shall  not  have  power  to  transfer  the  benefit  of 
the  cessions  aforesaid,  except  with  the  consent  of  the  English  Sec- 
retary of  State. 

6.  The  Company  shall  discourage  and,  as  far  as  practicable, 
abolish  by  degrees  any  system  of  domestic  servitude  existing  among 
the  native  inhabitants,  and  no  foreigner,  whether  European  or  other, 
shall  be  allowed  to  own  slaves  of  any  kind  in  the  Company's  terri- 
tories. 

7.  The  Company  shall  not,  in  any  way,  interfere  with  the  reli- 
gion of  any  class  or  tribe  of  the  people  of  its  territories,  or  of  any  of 
the  inhabitants  thereof,  except  so  far  as  may  be  necessary  in  the  in- 
terests of  humanity;  and  all  forms  of  religious  worship  may  be  exer- 
cised within  the  said  territories,  and  no  hindrance  shall  be  offered 
thereto  except  as  aforesaid. 

8.  In  the  administration  of  justice,  regard  shall  be  had  to  the 
customs  and  laws  of  the  nation  to  which  the  parties  belong. 

10.  The  Company  shall  afford  all  facilities  requisite  for  British 
ships  in  the  Company’s  harbors. 

11.  The  Company  may  hoist  and  use  on  its  buildings  and  else- 
where in  its  territories,  and  on  its  vessels,  such  distinctive  flag  indi- 
cating the  British  character  of  the  Company  as  the  English  Secretary 
of  State  and  the  Lords  Commissioners  of  the  Admiralty  shall  approve. 

12.  The  Company  is  further  authorized  and  empowered  to  ac- 
quire other  rights,  interests,  authorities,  or  powers  of  any  kind  or 
nature  whatever,  in,  over,  or  affecting  the  territories,  lands,  or  prop- 
erty comprised  in  the  several  treaties  aforesaid,  or  any  rights,  inter- 
ests, authorities,  or  powers  of  any  kind  or  nature  whatever,  in,  over, 
or  affecting  other  territories,  lands,  or  property  in  the  regions  afore- 
said, to  hold  the  same  for  the  purposes  of  the  Company  on  the  terms 
of  the  charter, 

14.  Nothing  in  this  charter  shall  authorize  the  Company  to 
grant  any  monopoly  of  trade,  and  subject  only  to  customs  duties  and 
charges  as  authorized,  and  to  restrictions  on  importation  similar  in 
character  to  those  applicable  in  the  United  Kingdom;  trade  with  the 
Company’s  territories  shall  be  free,  and  foreigners  will  be  subject  to 
administrative  dispositions  in  the  interests  of  commerce  and  order- 
The  customs  duties  and  charges  shall  be  applied  for  the  purpose  of 
defraying  the  expenses  of  government  and  the  performance  of  treaty 
obligations,  including  provision  for  repayment  of  expenses  already 


GOVERNMENTAL. 


3 


incurred  in  relation  to  the  acquisition,  maintenance,  and  execution  of 
treaty  rights.  The  Company  shall  furnish  accounts  and  particulars 
of  the  rates,  incidence,  collection,  proceeds,  and  application  of  such 
duties,  and  shall  give  effect  to  any  direction  by  the  English  Secretary 
of  State  as  to  any  modification  of  the  description,  rate,  collection,  or 
application  of  any  duties. 

15.  The  Company  shall  perform  all  the  obligations  and  stipula- 
tions relating  to  the  Niger  and  its  affluents,  or  the  territories  neigh- 
boring thereto,  or  situate  in  Africa,  undertaken  by  Great  Britain  un- 
der the  General  Act  of  the  Berlin  Conference  or  in  any  other  treaty 
or  arrangement  made  or  to  be  made. 

At  meetings  of  the  shareholders  of  the  National  African  Com- 
pany, called  for  the  purpose,  and  held  August  3.  8 and  12,  it  was  re- 
solved, in  view  of  the  altered  position  of  the  Company,  to  change  its 
name  to  " The  Royal  Niger  Company,  chartered  and  limited,”  by 
which  name  this  enterprise  will  be  known  hereafter. 

In  the  competition  of  the  Great  Powers  for  increased  colonial 
possessions  France  has  not  been  behind.  From  the  Berlin  Confer- 
ence she  emerged  the  possessor  of  a territory  as  large  as  France  and 
England  combined.  This  territory  has  a coast  line  of  over  600  miles, 
and  access  to  a great  stretch  of  the  Congo  river,  which  separates  it 
from  the  Congo  Free  State.  Since  1842  the  French  have  had  a hold 
on  the  West  Coast  of  Africa,  at  Gaboon,  but  in  consequence  of  the 
hostility  of  the  natives  it  was  lound  difficult  to  penetrate  into  the 
interior.  The  credit  of  performing  this  hazardous  task  and  of  an- 
nexing the  new  countries  to  France,  belongs  to  M.  de  Brazza,  who 
has  spent  the  last  ten  years  in  Western  and  Central  Africa. 

M.  de  Brazza  has  been  appointed  Commissary-General  of  the 
French  Congo — that  is  to  say,  the  Government  of  the  Gaboon  and 
the  Congo.  It  will  have  no  longer  any  connection  with  the  French 
settlements  on  the  Gold  Coast,  Grand  Bassam  and  Assinie.  nor  with 
those  on  the  Slave  Coast,  Grand  Popo,  Kotonu,  a^d  Porto  Novo, 
which  will  be  attached  to  the  Lieutenancy  of  the  Riv  ere  du  Sud, 
connected  with  the  Government  of  Senegal.  The  French  Govern- 
ment have  established  a Protectorate  over  the  Great  Comoro  Island. 
The  Comoro  Islands,  discovered  in  1598  by  Von  Houtmun,  consist  of 
several  large  and  small  islands,  the  group  being  about  1 50  miles  long 
from  end  to  end.  They  are  situated  at  the  northern  entrance  of  the 
Mozambique  channel,  between  the  northwest  coast  of  Madagascar 
and  Cape  Delagoa,  the  northern  limit  of  the  Portuguese  possessions 
and  the  southern  limit  of  the  territory  of  the  Sultan  of  Zanzibar. 
The  islands  are  high  and  mountainous,  partly  volcanic  and  with 
coasts  of  coral  formation.  The  vegetation  has  a tropical  character. 


4 


GOVERNMENTAL. 


but  includes  excellent  timber  for  ship-building.  An  important  feature 
is  the  abundance  of  tortoises.  Numbers  of  cattle  and  sheep  are  also 
produced  in  the  islands.  The  natives  are  a mixed  race  of  East 
African  Swahili  Negroes,  Arabs,  and  Malays.  They  are  a peaceable 
and  hospitable  people. 

An  agreement  between  France  and  Germany  with  respect  to 
their  conterminous  territories  on  the  West  coast  of  Africa  contains 
the  following  important  clauses.  First,  with  regard  to  the  Gulf  of 
Biafra  : 

The  Government  of  his  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  Germany 
renounces  in  favor  of  France  all  rights  of  sovereignty  and  pro- 
tectorate over  the  territories  acquired  south  of  the  river  Campo  by 
German  subjects  and  which  have  been  placed  under  his  Majesty’s 
protection.  It  undertakes  to  abstain  from  all  political  action  south 
of  the  line  following  the  said  river  from  its  moutn  to  the  point  where 
it  meets  the  meridian  situate  io  degrees  of  longitude  east  of  Green- 
wich, and  from  that  point  the  parallel  continued  to  its  junction 
with  the  meridian  situate  15  degrees  of  longitude  east  of  Greenwich. 
Neither  of  the  two  Governments  will  take  measures  which  may 
affect  the  liberty  of  navigation  and  commerce  of  subjects  of  the 
other  on  the  waters  of  the  river  Campo  in  the  portion  which  will 
remain  intermediate  and  which  will  be  used  in  common  by  the  sub- 
jects of  both. 

The  next  field  of  agreement  is  the  Slave  Coast,  where — 

The  Government  of  the  French  Republic,  recognizing  the  Ger- 
man protectorate  over  the  Togo  territory,  renounces  the  rights 
which  it  might  assert  over  the  territory  of  Porto  Seguro,  by  virtue  of 
its  relations  with  King  Mtesa.  The  Government  of  the  Republic 
also  renounces  its  rights  over  Little  Popo,  and  recognizes  the  Ger- 
man protectorate  over  this  territory.  French  merchants  at  Porto 
Seguro  and  Little  Popo  will  preserve  for  their  persons  and  their 
goods,  as  well  as  in  their  business  transactions,  until  the  conclusion 
©f  the  customs  arrangement  hereinbefore  provided  for,  the  benefit  of 
the  usages  which  they  at  present  enjoy;  and  all  the  advantages  or 
immunities  which  would  be  accorded  to  German  subjects  will  be 
equally  acquired  by  them.  Ttiey  will  in  particular  preserve  the  right 
of  transporting  and  freely  exchanging  their  goods  between  their 
warehouses  or  shops  in  Porto  Seguro  and  Little  Popo  and  the 
neighboring  French  territory,  without  being  liable  to  the  payment  of 
duty.  The  same  privilege  will,  in  return,  be  conceded  to  the  Ger- 
man merchants. 

The  German  and  French  Governments  reserve  the  right  of  con. 
suiting,  after  an  inquiry  on  the  spot,  in  order  to  arrive  at  the  estab- 


GOVERNMENTAL. 


5 


lishment  of  common  customs  regulations  in  the  territories  comprised 
between  the  English  possessions  of  the  Gold  Goasc  in  the  west  and 
Dahomey  to  the  east. 

The  boundary  between  the  German  territories  and  the  French 
territories  of  the  Slave  Coast  will  be  fixed  on  the  spot  by  a mixed 
Cornmission.  The  line  of  demarcation  will  start  from  a point  to  be 
determined  on  the  coast  between  the  territories  of  Little  Popo  and 
Angona.  In  tracing  this  line  northwards  account  shall  be  taken  of 
the  boundaries  of  native  possessions. 

The  German  Government  undertakes  to  abstain  from  all 
political  action  to  the  east  of  the  line  so  drawn.  The  French  Gov- 
ernment undertakes  to  abstain  frpm  all  political  action  to  the  west 
of  it. 

With  respect  then  to  the  Senegambia  : 

The  Government  of  the  German  Emperor  renounces  all 
rights  or  pretensions  which  it  might  assert  over  the  territories 
situated  between  the  river  Nunez  and  the  Mallecourie,  especially  over 
Coba  and  Kabitai ; and  recognizes  the  French  sovereignty  in  these 
territories. 

The  commercial  and  navigation  treaty  concluded  between  Ger- 
many and  the  Sultan  of  Zanzibar  has  been  presented  to  the  Bundes- 
ralh.  This  treaty  takes  the  place  of  the  treaty  concluded  on  June 
13th,  1859,  between  the  Hanseatic  Towns  and  Z inzibar.  It  contains 
concessions  not  made  in  treaties  with  other  Powers.  Certain  goods 
for  transport  to  the  territories  protected  by  Germany — as  agricultural 
implements,  means  of  transport  and  railway  and  tramway  materials 
— are  to  be  entirely  free  from  duties.  The  usual  import  duty  will  be 
5 per  cent,  ad  valorem,  but  spirits  will  pay  25  per  cent. 

A treaty  has  been  formed  between  Portugal  aqd  Gungunhanal 
son  and  successor  of  Umzila,  by  which  the  African  King  agrees  for 
himself  and  his  successors  to  obey  all  the  laws  and  orders  which  are 
transmitted  him  from  the  Portuguese  of  the  Province  of  Mozam- 
bique, and  to  allow  no  other  nation  to  obtain  any  sovereignty  within 
his  nation.  A Portuguese  Resident  is  to  be  appointed  in  the  princi- 
pal localities,  especially  in  the  district  of  Lorenzo  Marquez,  Inham- 
bane,  and  Sopala,  in  order  to  exercise  influence  upon  the  local 
authorities.  It  is  especially  agreed  that  King  Gungunhana  shall  pro- 
tect the  schools  and  missions  which  the  Portuguese  Government 
shall  establish,  and  that  he  shall  furnish  men  and  m iterial  for  the 
construction  of  needed  edifices.  It  is  reported  that  Major  Carvalho 
led  a Portuguese  expedition  to  the  capital  of  Muita-Yanvo,  and 
arranged  a treaty  with  the  ruling  monarch,  by  which  he  is  placed 


6 


THE  CONGO  FREE  STATE. 


under  the  protectorate  of  the  King  of  Portugal,  and  a Portuguese 
Resident  will  live  at  the  King’s  capital. 

THE  CONGO  FREE  STATE. 

The  “Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society”  for  October 
contains  a valuable  piper  by  Colonel  Sir  Francis  de  Winton,  who 
succeeded  Mr.  H.  M.  Stanley  as  agent  of  the  King  of  the  Belgians  in 
the  Congo  Free  State,  This  officer  affirms  that  the  central  region 
embraced  in  the  Congo  Free  State  is  a vast  rectangular  table  land, 
being  475,000  square  miles  in  area,  having  a gradual  slope  from  the 
southeast  to  the  northwest,  and  that  within  this  region  there  is  hardly 
one  hundred  miles  of  area  which  is  not  approachable  by  a waterway. 
This  fact  has  an  important  bearing  upon  the  probable  opening  of  the 
country.  The  King  of  the  Belgians  has  given  orders  for  the  building 
of  steamers  on  the  Upper  Congo  out  of  native  woods,  and  the  prepa- 
rations are  so  far  advanced  that  by  next  summer  it  is  hoped  to  have 
a steamer  of  one  hundred  tons,  drawing  eighteen  inches  of  water,  with 
a speed  of  ten  knots  an  hour,  in  a fair  way  toward  completion.  The 
most  valuable  article  of  commerce  in  the  interior  at  present  is  ivory. 
It  is  said  that  386  tusns,  averaging  fifty  pounds  weight  each,  were 
offered  for  sale  in  a single  day  at  Stanley  Pool.  Colonel  de  Winton 
affirms  that  any  plan  by  which  this  ivory  can  be  brought  to  the  coast 
without  the  intervention  of  slaves  will  be  a sure  overthrow  of  the 
slave  trade,  for  the  ivory  alone  would  not  pay  the  expenses  of  the 
traffic,  the  present  plan  being  to  sell  the  slaves  as  well  as  the  ivory 
they  carry.  If  steamers  and  a railway  can  bear  these  products  to  the 
coast,  the  cruel  system  of  the  slave  trade  will  receive  a deadly  blow- 
In  connection  with  Colonel  de  Winton’s  address,  Mr.  Stanley  re- 
marked that  the  entire  Congo  State,  though  vast  in  its  area  and  in- 
exhaustible in  its  resources,  was  not  worth  a two-shilling  piece  un- 
less a railway  could  be  built  connecting  the  Upper  Congo  with  the 
sea. 

The  new  Congo  Free  State  became  a part  of  the  Universal  Postal 
Union,  January  1,  1886. 

The  substitution  of  Belgian  for  English  officials  on  the  Lower 
Congo,  the  preparations  made  for  the  construction  of  the  con- 
templated railroad  along  its  southern  bank,  and  the  contract  just 
signed  at  Brussels  for  a loan  of  $25,000:000  to  an  international  syndi- 
cate to  colonize  the  Congo  basin,  mark  a new  departure  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  great  enterprise  begun  by  Mr.  Stanley  nine  years  ago. 
The  traffic  of  the  Upper  Congo  is  sufficiently  vouched  for  by  the 
thriving  condition  of  its  sole  existing  outlet— th  j narrow  stripof  sea- 
board ruled  by  the  Sultan  of  Zanzibar— as  well  as  bv  Germany's  ea- 


THE  BERLIN  CONFERENCE. 


7 


gerness  to  gain  a permanent  looting  in  that  quarter.  The  traffic  of 
the  Lower  Congo  may  be  judged  by  the  extreme  reluctance  which 
the  Portuguese  master  of  the  Angola  and  Mossamedes  coast  line  gave 
up  in  December,  i8Si,  his  claim  to  monopolize  the  control  of  the 
local  trade.  The  annual  value  of  the  latter,  even  upon  the  small  por- 
tion of  the  river  lyiug  between  the  sea  and  the  Yellala  rapids,  was 
rated  as  high  as  $14,0^0,000  by  an  estimate  made  in  January,  1883, 
barely  five  and  a half  years  after  Stanley’s  exploration.  That  of  the 
Upper  Congo  is,  for  obvious  reasons,  less  easily  reduced  to  figures 
but  its  enormous  extent  is  beyond  all  question.  Mr.  Stanley  himself 
has  more  than  once  asserted  that  when  the  twc  sections  of  the  river 
are  united  by  the  projected  railway  around  the  cataracts,  and  when 
the  commerce  of  both  is  fully  developed  its  normal  value,  taking  one 
year  with  another,  will  not  fall  short  of  $350,000,000. 

THE.  BERLIN  CONFERENCE. 

The  representatives  of  the  Powers  who  attended  the  Congo  Con- 
ference last  year  met  at  the  Berlin  Foreign  Office  on  April  19,  under 
the  presidency  of  Count  Herbert  Bismarck,  in  conformity  with  arti- 
cle 38  of  the  General  Act,  for  the  purpose  of  drawing  up  a protocol 
as  to  the  delivery  of  the  ratifications,  when  Count  Bismarck  an- 
nounced that  the  General  Act  had  been  ratified  by  all  the  Conference 
Powers,  with  the  exception  of  the  United  States.  Instead  of  ex- 
changing ratifications,  as  is  customary  in  the  case  of  most  treaties, 
the  Powers  in  the  present  instance  deposited  their  respective  ratifi- 
cations in  the  archives  of  the  Imperial  Government. 

Why  the  Government  of  the  United  States  has  not  imitated  the 
example  of  its  co-signatories  of  the  Congo  General  Act  is  not  stated 
in  the  official  announcement  ol  the  results  of  the  meeting,  but  its  omiss- 
ion to  do  so  is  the  more  singular,  as  this  Government  was  the  first  that 
recognized  the  flag  of  the  International  Association,  some  time  before 
this  enterprize  had  developed  into  the  Cong  a Free  State.  But  the 
United  States  Government  was  not  satisfied  with  the  tenor  of  certain 
clauses  in  the  General  Act  which  had  been  signed  by  its  representa- 
tive at  the  Conference,  and  the  subsequent  message  of  the  President 
to  Congress  contained  the  following  allusion  to  the  subject:  “A 

conference  of  delegates  of  the  principal  commercial  nations  was  held 
at  Berlin  last  winter  to  discuss  methods  whereby  the  Congo  basin 
might  be  kept  open  to  the  world’s  trade.  Delegates  attended  on 
behalf  of  the  United  States  on  the  understanding  that  their  part 
should  be  merely  deliberative,  without  imparting  to  the  results  any 
binding  character,  as  far  as  the  United  States  were  concerned.  This 
reserve  was  due  to  the  indisposition  of  this  Government  to  share  in 


8 


EXPLORATIONS. 


any  disposal,  by  an  international  congress,  of  jurisdictional  questions 
in  remote  foreign  territories.  The  results  of  the  Conference  were 
embodied  in  a formal  Act,  of  the  nature  of  an  international  conven- 
tion, which  laid  down  certain  obligations  purporting  to  be  binding  on 
the  signatories,  subject  to  ratification  witoin  one  year.” 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  has  later  declined  to  ratify 
the  General  Act  which  embodies  the  results  of  the  Berlin  Confer- 
ence, on  the  ground  that  the  document  would  impose  obligations  on 
the  American  Government  at  variance  with  its  traditional  foreign 
policy.  The  attitude  of  the  Government  of  Washington  was  defined 
by  the  President  in  his  message  of  December  last,  as  follows:  “Not- 
withstanding the  reservation  under  which  the  delegates  of  the  United 
States  attended,  their  signatures  were  attached  to  the  General  Act  in 
the  sam:.'  manner  as  those  of  the  other  Governments,  thus  making 
the  United  States  appear  without  reserve  or  qualification  as  s:gnato- 
ries  to  a joint  international  engagement,  imposing  on  the  signers  the 
conservation  of  the  territorial  integrity  of  distant  regions  where  we 
have  no  established  interests  or  control.  This  Government  does  not, 
however,  regard  its  reservation  of  liberty  of  action  in  the  premises  at 
all  impaired ; and,  holding  that  an  engagement  to  share  in  the  obliga- 
tion of  enforcing  neutrality  in  the  remote  valley  of  the  Congo  would 
be  an  alliance  the  responsibilities  of  which  we  are  not  in  a position 
to  assume,  I abstain  from  asking  the  sanction  of  the  Senate  to  that 
General  Act.” 

The  question  is,  whether  the  President  was  right  in  his  interpre- 
tation of  the  meaning  of  the  General  Act  as  regards  the  assumption 
of  an  obligation  on  the  part  of  the  American  Government  to  enforce 
the  neutrality  of  the  Congo  State  instead  of  merely  respecting  it. 
Meanwhile  the  fact  is,  America  has  ceased  to  be  a party  to  the  in- 
strument known  as  th?  Acte  Generale. 

EXPLORATIONS. 

“Through  Masai  Land  : a journey  of  exploration  among  the 
snow-clad  volcanic  mountains  and  strange  tribes  of  Eastern  Equato- 
rial Africa,”  by  Joseph  Thomson,  is  a decided  addition  to  the  num  - 
ber of  valuable  works  relating  to  the  exploration  of  the  “ Dark 
Continent.”  The  author  has  already  made  himself  a name,  since 
the  expedition  which  is  here  reported  is  the  third  which  he  has  made 
to  the  interior  of  Africa,  while  as  yet  but  twenty-six  years  of  age. 
The  Masai  are  described  as  magnificent  specimens  of  their  race,  con- 
siderably over  six  feet,  with  an  aristocratic,  savage  dignity  that 
filled  the  explorer  with  admiration.  They  are  divided  into  twelve 
principal  clans,  or  sub  tribes,  and  occupy  the  region  from  Mount 


EXPLORATIONS. 


9 


Kilamanjaro,  on  the  south,  to  lake  Baringo,  on  the  north.  The 
southern  section  has  an  altitude  of  from  three  to  four  thousand  feet 
above  the  sea.  It  is  sterile  and  unproductive,  not  because  of  the 
barrenness  of  the  soil,  but  the  scantiness  of  the  rainfall.  In  the 
vicinity  of  Kilamanjaro,  however,  there  are  small  aieas  which  are 
well  cultivated.  Eastward,  between  lake  Baringo  and  Victoria- 
Nyatiza,  Mr.  Thomson  passed  through  the  Wa-Kwafi  tribe,  allied  to 
the  Masai,  but  cultivators  of  the  soil  and  not  sowarlike.  They  are 
spoken  of  as  singularly  honest  and  reliable;  so  much  so  that  valuable 
articles  might  be  left  in  their  charge  without  fear.  Proceeding 
further  to  Victor^-Nyanza,  he  came  upon  the  region  of  the  Kavi- 
rondo,  where  there  was  a dense  population,  the  people  seeming 
unsophisticated  and  living  in  the  enjoyment  of  an  abundance  of  native 
products. 

M.  Aubry,  who  recently  visited  the  Gallas,  describes  King  Menelik 
of  Shoa  as  a pleasant  man  of  much  intelligence,  who  appearsanxious 
to  encourage  the  arts  of  civilization,  while  his  principal  men  are 
hostile  to  all  Europeans.  This  traveler  surveyed  the  source  of  two 
rivers,  the  Havvash  and  the  Mugueur,  the  latter  a tributary  of  the 
Blue  Nile. 

An  interesting  pamphlet  dealing  with  the  Congo  has  been  issued 
by  Lieut.  Wissmann,  who  was  the  companion  of  Dr.  Pogge,  and  who 
lately  returned  from  his  explorations  of  the  Kassai.  He  divides  the 
Congo  territory  into  three  parts — the  Lower,  Middle,  and  Upper 
Congo.  The  Lower  Congo,  which  is  best  known,  is  the  least  favor- 
able specimen  of  the  country.  It  is  badly  watered,  thinly  inhab 
ited,  and  low  lying.  The  Upper  Congo  is  dry,  swampy,  and  also 
thinly  peopled.  The  Middle  Congo  is  well  watered,  high  above 
the  level  of  the  sea,  densely  peopled,  and  without  marshes  of  any 
extent.  “The  Lower  Congo  I consider  an  obstacle  to  be  surmounted 
before  the  fertile  region  is  reached.  . . . The  commercial  future 

of  the  Congo  depends  on  this  region.”  Lieut.  Wissmann  has  returned 
to  the  Congo  to  continue  his  explorations  in  the  still  unknown 
sections. 

The  report  published  by  Lieut,  von  Nimptsc'n,  of  the  German 
Army,  son-in-law  of  Gen.  von  Loe,  Aide-de-Camp  to  the  Emperor, 
gives  interesting  details  of  the  journey  he  made  with  Herr  Wolff,  a 
traveler  in  the  service  of  the  Congo  Free  State,  and  which  has 
resulted  in  the  discovery  of  a river  likely  to  be  of  material  value  to 
traders  with  the  Congo.  The  Congo,  in  its  course  from  the  south- 
east, makes  a wide  bend  to  the  north,  and  then  descends  again  to  the 
Atlantic,  a large  section  of  country  being  embraced  in  this  curve. 
Within  this  curve  is  the  river  Kassai,  which  Lieut,  von  Nimptsch 


IO 


EXPLORATIONS. 


regards  as  being  “of  greater  importance  to  commerce  than  the  Congo 
itself.’"  Describing  their  journey,  he  says  that  as  far  as  Luebu,  the 
Kassai  flows  through  wide  plains  well  adapted  for  cultivation,  and  pas- 
turage, and  forests  of  palm-trees  and  gutta-percha  trees.  There  are 
many  villages  on  the  banks,  and  the  travelers  met  with  great  civility 
in  all  of  them  save  one,  the  inhabitants  of  which  fled  at  their  approach. 
One  tribe,  adds  Lieut,  von  Nimptsch,  “was remarkable  for  its  joviality. 
The  natives  accompanied  the  steamer  in  their  canoes,  and  when  we 
landed,  organized  dances  and  songs  in  our  honor."  They  discovered 
several  affluents  of  the  Kassai,  and  they  calculated  that  they  were 
navigable  for  a distance  of  250  miles.  “But  the  most  important 
affluent,”  the  report  goes  on  to  say,  “is  that  which  Herr  Wolff 
explored  in  the  steamer  Vorwarts  during  the  months  of  February 
and  March.  He  ascended  this  stream  to  a distance  of  430  leagues 
from  its  mouth,  and  one  of  its  northern  affluents  brought  him  to 
within  a week’s  march  of  Nyangoue.  He  might  have  gone  still  fur- 
ther had  his  steamer  not  met  with  an  accident,  for  there  are  no 
cataracts  in  this  river.  This  network  of  navigable  water,  extending 
over  more  than  3,000  miles,  is  most  admirable,  and  in  future  it  will  be 
possible  to  travel  eastward  from  the  Atlantic,  reaching  Nyangoue 
and  then  lake  Tanganyika  by  leaving  the  Congo  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Kassai,  without  being  obliged  to  ascend  the  whole  of  the  former 
stream,  thus  avoiding  the  Stanley  Falls.” 

Lieut.  Edward  Gleerup,  the  ninth  white  man  to  cross  Central 
Africa  from  sea  to  sea,  has  arrived  at  Brussels  from  Zanzibar.  As 
he  followed  the  route  traced  by  Stanley  in  his  journey  across  the 
continent,  his  trip  is  geographically  without  important  results,  but  he 
has  collected  much  interesting  information  with  regard  to  the  im- 
proved facilities  for  traveling  in  Africa,  the  remarkable  growth  of 
the  power  and  influence  of  Arab  traders,  and  the  value  and  prospects 
of  Germany’s  new  possessions  in  East  Africa. 

The  eight  men,  from  Livingstone  to  Capello  and  Ivens,  who 
preceded  Gleerup  in  the  trip  across  the  Continent,  all  occupied 
from  two  to  two  and  a half  years.  Gleerup  has  now  demon- 
strated that  the  journey  can  be  made  in  about  eight  months, 
or  only  two-thirds  the  time  that  Burton  and  Speke,  the  first 
Englishmen  to  visit  the  great  lakes,  required  to  travel  from  Zanzibar 
to  Tanganyika.  With  the  aid  of  the  Congo  State  steamers  the  journey 
from  the  Atlantic  to  Stanley  Falls,  1,200  miles  up  the  river,  can  now 
be  made  in  two  months.  Lieut.  Gleerup  was  six  months  on  the  road 
between  Stanley  Falls  and  Zanzibar.  The  Congo  State  in  the  west 
and  the  east  coast  Arab  traders,  whose  many  caravans  have  made  a 


EXPLORATIONS. 


I I 

beaten  highway  to  the  Indian  Ocean,  have  brought  about  this  great 
improvement  in  the  conditions  of  African  travel. 

Important  changes  have  occurred  in  some  regions  that  have  not 
been  visited  by  whites  since  Stanley’s  trip,  nine  years  ago.  Along 
the  300  miles  of  the  Congo,  between  Stanley  Falls  and  Nyangwe, 
Gleerup  found  two  large  and  several  small  Arab  stations— collectings 
points  for  slaves  and  ivory.  Nyangwe,  the  famous  trading  town,  has 
largely  grown,  and  neighboring  Kasongo,  which  Livingstone  described 
as  a little  village,  has  8,000  inhabitants.  Near  these  two  towns  the 
Arabs  rear  large  herds  of  cattle.  Along  the  road  to  Tanganyika 
they  have  several  stations  for  the  training  of  female  slaves  for  labor 
on  the  plantations.  Ten  caravans  now  travel  the  road  to  and  from 
Central  Africa  where  one  was  formerly  seen.  Gleerup  often  met 
them,  and  he  says  that  east  of  Tanganyika  it  was  not  uncommon  for 
two  or  three  caravans  to  camp  together,  and  that  their  combined 
force  was  sometimes  over  1,000  men. 

Dr.  Fischer  has  arrived  at  Zanzibar  after  a fruitless  search  for 
Dr.  Junker,  the  last  news  from  whom  was  unfavoiable.  Herr 
Schwartz  states  in  an  account  of  his  journey  in  the  inland  districts 
of  the  Cameroons,  that  he  followed  the  leading  caravan  route  to  the 
Calabar  river,  and,  after  reaching  Bakundu,  on  the  confines  of  the 
territory  already  explored,  continued  his  journey  eastward  into  a re- 
gion of  which  all  hitherto  existing  maps  are  unt  rustworthy,  and  which 
is  rigorously  guarded  by  jealous  tribes.  Pursuing  his  way  through 
far-reaching  primeval  forests,  rich  in  gum  trees  and  w'ilcl  coffee,  and 
teeming  with  elephants.  Mr.  Schwartz  crossing  the  Kumba  river, 
reached  the  territory  of  Bason,  which  he  found  to  be  studded  with 
densely-populated  towns.  This  district,  from  which  the  people  dwel- 
ling on  the  coast  obtain  ivory,  oil,  and  slaves,  is  a picturesque 
and  comparatively  well  cultivated  plateau.  The  inhabitants,  called 
Bafarami,  who  are  engaged  in  agriculture  and  cattle  rearing,  have  up 
to  the  present  not  even  been  known  by  name.  His  further  advance 
w-’s  arrested  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Upper  Calabar  by  a party  of  500 
natives,  in  consequence  of  which  he  returned  to  the  coast  by  the 
Mungo  river. 

The  destruction  of  Porro’s  expedition  is  announced.  This  enter- 
prise was  undertaken  by  the  Geographical  Society  of  Milan,  and  was. 
equipped  in  the  most  thorough  manner.  Its  object  was  to  establish 
commercial  relations  between  Abyssinia  and  the  Nile,  and  to  explore 
the  unknown  regions  between  these  points.  Porro  set  out  with  a 
suite  of  distinguished  savants  and  experts,  and  safely  reached  Gal- 
dezzi.  where,  after  a desperate  resistance,  all  of  the  members  of  the 
expedition  were  murdeied.  The  Portuguese  travelers,  Ivens  and 


RAILROADS. 


I 2 

Capello,  who  have  heretofore  published  volumes  concerning  African 
explorations,  have  again  returned  to  Lisbon  from  an  examination  of 
the  region  through  which  flow  the  affluents  of  the  Upper  Congo  and 
the  Zambesi.  Intelligence  has  been  received  of  the  death  of  Herr 
Robert  Flegel,  the  celebrated  explorer  of  the  Niger.  Senors  Cer- 
vera  and  Ouiroga.  who,  starting  from  the  Canary  Islands,  after  landing 
at  Rio  Ceoro,  traversed  a considerable  portion  of  northwest  Africa 
hitherto  unexplored,  have  returned  to  Madrid.  From  a geographi- 
cal point  their  researches  appear  to  have  given  results  of  considera- 
ble importance. 

RAILROADS. 

The  Government  of  the  Congo  Free  State,  early  in  the  year, 
concluded  an  agreement  with  Mr.  H.  M.  Stanley,  Mr.  James  F.  Hut- 
ton, President  of  the  Manchester  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  others, 
acting  on  behalf  of  the  Congo  Railway  syndicate,  for  the  formation 
of  a Company  for  the  construction  of  a railroad,  235  miles  long,  unit- 
ing the  Lower  wfth  the  Upper  Congo.  It  was  proposed  that  the 
Company  should  raise  a capital  of  from  .£1,000,000  to  .£2,000,000 
sterling,  and  be  provided,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Congo  Govern- 
ment, as  a State  railway,  with  a Royal  charter,  and  that  subscriptions 
be  opened  in  the  capital  of  each  of  the  fourteen  Powers  which  took 
part  in  the  Berlin  Conference. 

This  syndicate,  after  months  of  fruitless  negotiations,  has  dis- 
solved, and  Belgian  capitalists  have  taken  up  the  enterprise.  The 
Eng'ish  accuse  the  Congo  authorities  of  defeating  their  scheme,  be- 
cause they  desired  that  Belgians  should  build  and  control  the  rail- 
road. The  Congo  authorities,  cn  the  other  hand,  say  the  negotia- 
tions failed  because  the  English  proposed,  in  effect,  to  set  up  a gov- 
ernment of  their  own  in  Congo,  and  because  they  practically  de- 
manded a monopoly  of  trade,  which,  under  the  Act  of  the  Berlin 
Congress,  could  not  be  conceded  to  them. 

The  Belgian  capitalists,  to  whom  the  Congo  State  has  granted  a 
concession  for  buildingthe  railroad,  have  subscribed  the  funds  needed 
to  send  a party  of  engineers  and  specialists  to  the  Congo  to  survey 
the  route,  determine  the  cost,  and  prepare  the  plans.  It  is  expected 
that  this  work  will  occupy  more  than  a year.  The  new  syndicate 
asserts  that  it  has  already  received  assurances  of  the  financial  co- 
operation of  foreign  capitalists  when  the  work  of  track-laying  is 
ready  to  begin. 

The  construction  of  a railroad  between  St.  Paul  de  Loando  and 
Ambaca,  a trading  centre  on  the  Coanza  river,  has  been  authorized  and 
guaranteed  by  the  Lisbon  Government.  The  line  of  country 


CABLES. 


through  which  it  is  to  pass  has  been  surveyed.  The  Geographical 
Society  of  Lisbon  has  received  from  an  engineer  plans  for  a railroad 
between  Lorenzo  Marquez  and  Pretoria.  This  engineer,  M.  Joaquim, 
gives  an  interesting  description  of  the  region  traversed,  and  of  cer- 
tain important  towns  on  the  way  and  where  many  elements  of  civili- 
zation are  to  be  found.  The  German  East  African  Company  is  in 
negotiation  with  the  English  contractor.  Mackinnan,  for  the  con- 
struction of  a railway  from  Dar-es- Salaam  (Zanzibar)  into  the  interior 
of  East  Africa,  The  project  is  a very  extensive  one,  viz.,  from  the 
coast  of  Muini,  in  Usagara,  whence  a branch  would  go  to  the  north 
corner  of  the  Nyassa,  and  another  to  the  south  corner  of  Victoria 
lake,  both  lines  being  then  connected  by  secondary  lines  with  lake 
Tanganyika. 

CABLES. 

The  telegraph  cable  between  London  and  the  west  coast  of 
Africa  was  opened  July  13,  and  the  latter  is  now  in  direct  com- 
munication with  the  rest  of  the  civilized  world.  Having 
so  long  remained  outside  the  region  of  telegraphic  communication 
the  west  African  coast  seems  now  likely  to  be  in  a plethoric  condi- 
tion in  that  respeet,  as  this  section,  as  well  as  the  Gold  coast,  is  to 
have  a duplicate  cable,  each  worked  by  a rival  company.  As  one  of 
the  telegraph  companies  is  laying  the  cable  as  far  south  as  St.  Paul 
de  Loando,  it  is  believed  that  the  British  Government  will  order  the 
construction  of  a duplicate  line  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  as  also 
for  the  extension  of  the  cable  to  St.  Helena  and  Ascension.  A sub- 
sidy of  ^19,000,  of  which  the  English  colonies  on  the  west  coast 
are  to  contribute  ^5000,  has  been  voted  by  the  British  Parliament  to 
the  west  coast  of  Africa  direct  cable.  The  line  of  cable  on  the  east 
coast  of  Africa  has  a subsidy  from  the  same  Government  of  ,£25,000. 
The  submarine  telegraph  lines  connecting  Aden  and  Port  Natal  touch 
at  Zanzibar,  Mozambique,  and  Lorenzo  Marquez.  From  Zanzibar  a 
line  runs  to  Tamatave  in  Madagascar.  In  Cape  Colony  there  are 
4000  miles  of  telegraph  lines,  and  last  year  not  less  than  650,000 
dispatches  were  sent. 

GOLD  AND  DIAMONDS. 

There  is  plenty  of  gold  in  the  highlands  that  run  parallel  to 
the  west  coast  of  Africa,  from  the  interior  of  Senegal  alcng  the  rear 
of  Sierra  Leone  and  Liberia  to  the  Niger.  From  these  regions  there 
has  been  a steady  export  of  gold  from  the  most  ancient  times,  across 
the  Sahara  to  the  Mediterranean.  The  supply  is  inexhaustible,  but 
foreign  efforts  during  the  last  five  years  to  develop  the  mines  have 
been  unprofitable. 


1 4 


GOLD  AND  DIAMONDS. 


In  the  year  1867  a Dutch  farmer  on  the  Orange  river  found  a 
diamond  with  which  his  children  played  for  a time,  not  knowing  its 
value,  but  which  he  subsequently  sold  for  $2,500.  It  was  the  first 
gem  of  the  kind  from  South  Africa,  but  in  the  year  1884  the  value  of 
diamonds  exported  from  Cape  Colony  was  over  fourteen  millions  of 
dollars,  while  the  total  value  from  1867  to  1884  was  $148,862,880, 
The  great  diamond  fields  lie  between  the  Vaal  and  the  Orange  rivers, 
in  what  was  called  Griqwa  Land  West,  in  the  Orange  River  Free 
State,  and  thither  have  flocked  men  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  The 
natives  from  different  sections  in  South  Central  Africa  come  to  labor 
at  the  mines,  and  they  are  continually  passing  back  and  forth  between 
Kimberly  and  their  several  countries.  Kimberly  is  in  the  centre  of 
the  diamond  fields.  It  is  situated  about  four  hundred  miles  from 
Durban,  a little  north  of  west.  It  is  a town  whose  name  does  not 
appear  on  the  gazetteers  of  five  years  ago,  but  it  is  now  to  South 
Africa  what  London  is  to  England.  It  is  connected  by  rail  with  the 
surrounding  regions  and  has  become  the  emporium  of  trade.  It  is 
reported  that  the  number  of  registered  Kaffirs  engaged  in  the  mines 
last  year  was  about  72,000,  of  whom  30,000  were  fresh  arrivals. 

TRADE. 

The  past  year  has  been  remarkable  as  one  of  unusually  severe 
depression  in  all  branches  of  commerce  upon  the  west  coast  of 
Africa.  African  produce,  especially,  has  been  affected,  the  market 
rates  in  Europe  being  for  many  articles  scarcely  more  than  half  what 
they  were  a year  ago,  while  the  English  shipping  companies  have 
suffered  so  severely  as  in  many  cases  to  be  unable  to  pay  any  divi- 
dends, and  even  to  be  compelled  to  resort  to  the  expedient  of  reduc- 
ing the  number  of  steamers  employed  in  the  African  service. 

Among  those  who  have  done  so  much  to  make  the  geography  of 
Africa  familiar  to  the  world,  Mr.  Joseph  Thomson  may  fairly  claim  a 
prominent  position,  He  lately  returned  from  the  Niger  and  the  West- 
ern Empires  of  Sokoto  and  Gaudo,  where  he  passed  several  months 
in  behalf  of  the  African  Trading  Company.  At  a meeting  of  the 
British  Association,  Mr.  Thomson  stated  that  on  reaching  Lokoja, 
at  the  confluence  of  the  Bienue  with  the  Niger,  he  saw  “a  people 
astir  with  religious  activity  and  enthusiasm,  and  especially  far  ad- 
vanced in  the  arts  and  industries.”  From  Rabba  the  journey  to  So- 
koto had  to  be  continued  by  means  of  the  ordinary  African  caravan, 
the  route  Deing  through  Kupe  and  Yauri  to  the  Gulbi-n-Gindi,  which 
is  then  followed  to  the  neighborhood  of  Sokoto.  Mr.  Thomson  ex- 
pressed the  opinion  “ that  in  all  the  wide  range  of  tropical  Africa 
there  is  no  more  promising  field  for  commerce  than  this  semi-civil- 


TRADE. 


J5 

ized  region  which  forms  the  central  area  of  the  Niger  basin.”  He 
came  to  this  conclusion  “not  on  the  ground  that  it  is  more  fertile  or 
more  rich  in  natural  productions — though  in  other  respects  compar- 
ing favorably  with  other  parts- — but  for  other  reasons.  These  may  be 
briefly  summarized  as  follows:  (i.)  It  is  more  densely  populated 

than  ar.y  other  part  of  Africa,  and  divided  into  powerful  and,  for 
Africa,  exceedingly  well  governed  empires,  in  which  life  and  property 
are  almost  as  sacred  as  in  Great  Britain.  (2.)  The  peoples  are  far 
advanced  in  civilization,  and  throughout  Northern  Africa  are  famed 
for  the  excellence  of  their  various  manufactures.  (3.)  The  necessary 
machinery  and  organization  to  work  the  inland  trade  is  ready  to 
hand,  as  the  Housa  trader  is  famed  for  his  commercial  genius  and 
enterprising  spirit.  (4  ) An  efficient  transport  service  already  exists, 
as  the  horse,  camel,  bullock,  and  donkey,  flourish  in  their  thousands 
(5.)  Owing  to  the  much  sterner  conditions  under  which  the  people 
live,  laborers  are  to  be  found  without  stint.  (6.)  The  river  Niger 
presents  an  uninterrupted  waterway  into  the  very  heart  of  this  region.” 
Mr.  Thomson  further  says  that  he  was  successful  beyond  his 
anticipations.  “The  Sultan  of  Sokoto,  in  consideration  of  a subsidy, 
agreed  to  hand  over  to  the  National  African  Company  all  his  rights 
to  both  banks  of  the  river  Binue  and  its  tributaries  for  thirty  miles 
inland,  to  give  them  an  absolute  monopoly  of  all  trading  and  mineral 
rights  throughout  his  dominions,  and  to  make  the  African  Trading 
Company  the  sole  medium  in  his  intercourse  with  foreigners.  A few 
days  later,  the  Sultan  of  Gando,  whose  rule  extends  over  the  main 
river  from  Lokoja  to  near  Timbuctoo,  granted  the  same  rights  and 
privileges  for  his  empire,  and  thus  the  same  Company  were  put  in 
absolute  command  of  the  whole  middle  area  of  the  Niger,  and  the 
whole  of  the  basin  of  the  Binue.  In  considering  these  concessions, 
it  should  be  remembered  that  they  were  granted  by  educated  men, 
who  thoroughly  knew  the  import  of  the  whole  matter.  We  were 
not  dealing  with  barbarians,  but  educated  Mahommedans,  who  thor- 
oughly knew  what  they  were  about.  Yet  you  would  do  well  to 
remember  that  tapping  African  trade  is  not  like  striking  oil  in 
America,  which  some  writers  would  have  you  believe.  There  will  be 
no  sudden  gush.  It  will  develop  by  slow  accretions  as  the  fruit  of 
industry,  foresight,  and  the  spread  of  habits  of  labor  among  the 
natives.  " 

France,  ever  alive  to  her  own  interests,  is  pushing  steadily  ahead 
in  the  Upper  Niger  and  Soudan.  In  1880-81,  Gallieni,  accompanied 
by  a staff  of  resolute  and  enduring  men,  forced  his  way  from  the 
Senegal  to  the  Niger.  In  1883-1884  another  party  under  Colonel 
Boileve  opened  the  line  of  communication  between  the  Senegal  and 


1 6 


TRADE. 


the  Niger  by  the  establishment  of  a new  post  at  Koundou  and  a tele- 
graph line  from  Bainmakoo  to  Bakel.  The  relations  between  St. 
Louis  and  Beledougou  are  being  daily  developed.  In  1882  Colonel 
Borgnis-Desbordes  planted  the  Tiicolour  upon  the  banks  of  the 
Niger  at  Bammakoo,  and  in  the  following  year  proclaimed  the  sov- 
ereignty of  France  over  that  part  of  the  country.  In  Foutah-Jallo 
she  has  been  far  from  inactive.  Already  her  influence  is  felt  there, 
and  the  possibility  of  its  becoming  a French  colony  is  within  meas- 
urable distance.  In  1881  Dr.  Bayol,  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Dakar, 
explored  Foutah  and  Bambouc.  On  his  return  to  Paris  he  was 
accompanied  by  an  ambassador  from  Timbo,  who  was  desired  by  his 
King  to  inform  the  Government  of  the  Republic  that  the  treaties  in 
existence  would  be  respected.  Again,  from  the  “Mission  d’  Explora- 
tion du  Haut-Niger”  by  Gallieni  himself,  we  learn  something  of  the 
task  France  has  set  herself  to  accomplish  and  will  assuredly  perform. 
“If  Tonquin  and  Madagascar  have  for  the  moment  turned  her  atten- 
tion from  the  Senegal,  it  does  not  signify  that  she  has  abandoned  her 
project  of  reaching,  by  that  way,  the  heart  of  the  Soudan,  with  the 
intention  cf  drawing  towards  St.  Louis  the  commerce  that  follows 
the  Sahara  route  leading  to  Morocco  and  Tripoli.”  The  check  met 
by  Flatters’s  expedition  having  shown  that  Timbuctoo  could  not  be 
reached  by  the  north  for  a long  time,  it  must  be  accomplished  by  the 
Niger,  and  up  to  the  present  there  does  not  seem  to  be  much  resist- 
ance on  the  part  of  the  natives. 

The  possible  influence  of  Germany  upon  the  future  development 
of  the  “Dark  Continent"  cannot  well  be  over  estimated.  On  the 
east,  the  south,  and  the  west,  we  see  her  ever  watchful  and  ready  to 
found  a colony,  or  even  a trading  station  only,  and  to  enter  into 
treaties  with  the  native  kings  and  chiefs;  the  outcome  of  all  which 
is  sure  to  be,  sooner  or  later,  the  subordination  of  the  native  to  the 
European  influence.  In  the  course  of  one  week  recently,  there  were 
laid  before  the  Reichstag  no  less  than  three  treaties  by  which  chiefs 
of  various  tribes  on  the  West  coast  place  themselves  and  their  people 
under  the  protection  of  the  German  Empire.  The  meaning  of  these 
treaties  is,  says  Kuhlow’s  Trade  Review,  sooner  or  later  “annexation,” 
as  by  them  the  influence  of  all  other  foreign  Powers  is  expressly 
excluded,  while  the  chiefs  place  themselves — so  far,  at  least,  as  all 
exterior  matters  are  concerned — entirely  in  the  hands  of  Germany. 
Under  these  treaties  the  natives  concerned  are  assured  of  protection 
from  foreign  foes;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  they  undertake  not 
to  entertain  any  warlike  intention  independently  of  the  great  Power. 
It  is  not  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  natives  fully  understand  the. 
importance  of  the  agreements  into  which  they  appear  so  readily  to 


TRADE. 


17 


have  entered  ; but  this  much  at  least  is  clear,  that  Germany,  as  she 
agrees  to  be  responsible  for  the  security  of  these  people  in  time  of 
trouble,  must  be  prepared  to  restrain  them  from  anything  that  would 
tend  to  the  provocation  of  surrounding  tribes,  or  from  any  overt  act 
that  would  lead  to  hostilities.  Germany  will  take  good  care  that  the 
power  she  has  thus  obtained  will  be  exercised  when  it  suits  her  policy 
and  the  principles  of  German  extension,  which  have  been  before  her 
eyes  ever  since  the  first  conception  of  a German  colonial  policy, 

It  is  announced  that  the  German  East  African  Company,  with  a 
capital  of  ^100,000,  intends  to  establish  at  once  and  equip  five  stations 
in  newly-acquired  possessions.  They  will  be  essentially  military  sta- 
tions on  an  agricultural  foundation,  in  contrast  to  the  stations  of  the 
Congo  State,  and  will  at  the  same  time  have  commercial,  adminis- 
trative, and  judicial  functions.  German  officers  are  to  train  Negro 
soldiers  for  defensive  purposes.  For  the  working  of  plantations  the 
labor  of  free  natives,  and,  to  a smaller  extent,  foreign  work  people, 
will  be  used,  among  the  latter  being  Japanese,  Coolies,  or  Chinese- 
These  stations  will  be  connected  bycaiavan  roads  with  the  coast, 
which  roads  will  be  made  to  the  Rusidji,  the  Pangani,  and  the  centre 
of  Usagara.  At  the  present  time  the  East  African  Company  has 
under  its  protection  4,500  square  miles  of  country  in  a central  and 
favorable  part  of  the  heart  of  Africa.  The  establishment  of  the  sta- 
tions named  above  is  only  part  of  a large  plan,  which  will  be  devel- 
oped as  circumstances  allow. 

It  is  understood  that  an  agreement  has  been  come  to  between 
Dr.  Peters,  President  of  the  German  East  African  Company,  and 
Prince  v.  Hohenlohe-Langenburg,  President  of  the  Colonial  Asso- 
ciation, the  effect  of  which  is  that  these  two  large  bodies  will  now 
work  hand  in  hand.  The  Associations  differ  essentially  in  objects. 
While  the  East  African  Company  is  aiming  after  plantations,  the 
Colonial  Association  seeks  to  further  emigration. 

The  Germans  in  East  Africa  have  left  the  flat  lands  of  the  coast 
and  gone  into  the  interior,  on  higher  lands,  where  they  find  a fertile 
and  beautiful  terrace  from  3,000  to  4,500  feet  in  elevation.  Beyond 
this  lies  a barren  steppe,  which  is  followed  by  another  very  fertile 
plain  that  extends  to  the  lakes  of  Central  Africa.  The  entire  terri- 
tory is  intersected  by  a well-formed  and  clearly  defined  river  system. 
Several  of  these  rivers  are  navigable  for  a long  distance,  thus  afford- 
ing a prospect  of  a future  water-way  for  commerce  ; but  their  greatest 
promise  is  their  possibility  in  the  line  of  irrigation.  The  animal 
world  is  rich  and  varied,  while  the  soil  is  already  covered  with  rice 
and  tobacco  in  large  quantities.  The  various  gums  are  obtainable  in 
large  quantities,  and  successful  experiments  have  been  made  with 


1 8 


TRADE. 


tropical  vegetables,  as  well  with  the  coffee-berry  and  vanilla.  The 
smaller  coffee-trees  find  a valuable  protection  under  the  mighty 
bananas.  The  German  agents  report  that  all  they  want  is  railroad 
transport  to  extract  great  wealth  from  the  region  ; and  it  will  again 
be  remembered  that  this  is  in  East  Africa,  which  has  hitherto  been 
a doubtful  territory,  and  one  very  little  known  in  comparison  to  the 
western  coast.  This  report  accounts  for  the  zeal  developed  there  by 
the  German  nation  in  extending  a protectorate  over  lands  claimed  by 
the  Sultan  of  Zanzibar. 

A line  of  steamships  has  been  established  from  Oporto.  Portugal, 
to  Mossamedes.  The  steamers  are  to  touch  at  Lisbon,  Madeira,  St 
Thomas,  the  Congo,  Loanda,  Novo  Rodondo,  and  Benguela.  The 
Government  of  the  Congo  State  has  accepted  the  offer  of  Messrs. 
Walford  and  Co.,  of  Antwerp,  to  establish  a line  of  Rclgian  steamers 
between  Antwerp  and  the  Congo.  The  vessels  are  to  leave  Antwerp 
at  first  once  every  six  weeks,  and  afterwards  once  a month. 

So  much  for  what  England,  France,  Germany  and  Portugal  are 
doing:  what  are  the  people  and  Government  of  the  United  States 
about?  Several  public  meetings  have  been  held  at  New  Orleans  by 
leading  colored  men  of  that  city,  with  the  view  of  establishing 
direct  trade  with  West  Africa,  at  which  letters  from  a number  of 
men  of  influence  were  read. 

Senator  Morgan  of  Alabama  wrote  : — “Taking  Liberia  for  the 
distributing  point,  it  seems  that  a vast  trade  could  be  done  01  the 
Niger  and  Congo  and  along  the  Coast.  3 earnestly  hope  that  direct 
and  regular  steam  communication  may  be  had  between  the  city  of 
New  Orleans  and  Liberia.  This  would  open  up  a traffic  that  would 
ultimately  grow  into  vast  proportions.  We  could  scarcely  find  a 
country  with  which  we  could  carry  on  commerce  with  so  little  capi- 
tal, on  the  old  plan  of  bartering  cargoes  of  our  manufactures,  etc., 
for  the  products  of  those  people.  I am  not  trying  to  induce  our  Ne- 
gro population  to  emigrate,  though  I know  that  they  are  now  prepar- 
ing to  return  to  Africa  and  will  go  there  sooner  th  n the  white  peo- 
ple desire.  But  I am  earnestly  the  advocate  of  any  proper  measures 
that  will  prepare  that  country  as  a field  for  their  commercial  and 
missionary  work  It  is  time  this  way  had  been  made  open  for  them. 
Sooner  than  wc  now  think  they  will  be  anxious  to  enter  the  field. 
When  they  do  this  their  wealth  and  moral  power  will  increase  with 
great  rapidity.  Itwis  for  this  reason  that  I felt  so  concerned  to 
have  the  Congo  country  made  a free  State,  as  has  been  done  by  the 
Berlin  Conference.  Without  defining  how  it  could  best  be  done,  I 
am  ready  to  support  liberal  measures  for  the  establishment  of  a 
team  line  to  the  West  Coast  of  Africa,  say  to  Liberia.” 


CLIMATE. 


19 


CLIMATE. 

It  is  saddening  to  record  the  mortality  among  the  whites  who 
have  gone  to  establish  the  lights  which  are  to  irradiate  Africa.  The 
deaths  are  reported  of  Messrs  Comber.  Cruikshank,  Crowe,  Cobbing- 
ham,  Maynard  and  McMillan,  missionaries  of  the  English  Baptist 
Missionary  Society  to  the  Congo,  also  of  Mr.  Craven,  missionary  of 
the  Livingstone  Inland  Mission  to  the  same  river.  The  London  Mis- 
sionary Society  has  lost  in  the  same  way  ten  men,  among  them 
Messrs  Mullins.  Thompson,  D adgshun  and  Pensy,  connected  with 
its  African  Missions.  Mr.  McEwen,  an  engineer  engaged  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  missionary  road  from  lake  Nyassa  to  lake  Tangan- 
yika; Mr.  James  Roxburgh,  an  engineer  sent  to  launch  the  mis- 
sionary steamer  “ Good  News  ” at  lake  Tanganyika,  and  Mr.  Mims, 
also  an  engineer  commissioned  to  put  together  and  work  the  mis- 
sionary steamer  “ Peace  ” on  the  Congo,  have  fallen  victims  to  the 
climate  of  Equatorial  Africa. 

Mr.  Joseph  Thomson,  the  celebrated  African  traveler,  lately 
stated  that  he  “ did  not  believe  that  any  part  of  Central  Africa  could 
be  colonized,  if  by  colonization  was  meant  the  ability  to  live  and 
rear  a family  there.  People  might  go  there  and  stay  for  a few 
years,  and  then  leave  in  a fairly  healthy  condition,  but  that  more 
than  that  could  be  done  he  did  not,  from  experience,  believe.  Ex- 
perience in  India  had  shown  that  there  were  no  European  descend- 
ants beyond  the  third  generation.  Unless  they  became  intermixed 
with  native  blood,  Europeans  died  out  in  the  second  or  third  genera- 
tion. If  that  were  so  in  India,  he  was  sure  it  would  be  still  more  so 
the  case  in  Africa.” 

The  action  of  the  African  climate  upon  foreigners  is  an  element 
to  be  taken  into  the  account  in  all  calculations  of  the  probabilities  of 
individual  usefulness  in  that  country.  A strong  and  level-headed 
white  man  in  Europe  and  America  is  not  necessarily  a strong  and 
level- headed  man  in  Africa  after  the  fever  has  laid  its  hand  upon  him- 
Protracted  residence  in  Africa  alone  can  determine  whether  a man’s 
physical  conditions  will  enable  him  to  maintain  the  intellectual  and 
moral  balance  he  had  in  northern  climes.  Mr.  Stanley’s  white  men 
may  have  been  all  right  when  they  left  England,  but  bi  ought  under 
the  disturbing  influence  of  an  inhospitable  climate  they  become 
changed  beings.  They  who  go  to  Africa  from  Europe  or  America 
change,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  both  the  Coelufn  and  the  Animitm. 
It  is  needless  to  look  for  much  from  the  colonization  efforts  of  Ger- 
mans and  the  King  of  Belgium  in  Africa.  The  striking  remark  of 
Hon.  John  H.  B.  Latrobe,  in  his  address  before  the  Massachusetts 
Colonization  Society,  in  1853,  is  true — “ There  is  but  one  people  that 
can  colonize  Africa  and  live.” 


20 


LIQUORS. 


LIQUORS. 

It  would  be  a great  advance  if  Christian  nations  should  put  a 
stop  to  the  exportation  of  spirituous  liquors  to  the  heathen  races  of 
the  world.  The  delegates  of  German  Missionary  Societies,  at  a con- 
ference at  Bremen,  addressed  a manifesto  to  the  German  people  and 
also  a memorial  to  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  asking  that  re- 
strictions be  imposed  upon  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  to  native 
Africans.  English  Missionary  Societiesare  acting  in  council  in  present- 
ing an  appeal  to  the  British  Government,  showing  the  immense  evils 
of  the  traffic,  and  what  a menace  it  is  to  the  native  population  of 
Africa.  The  American  Board  has  united  with  other  American  mis- 
sionary societies,  including  the  Presbyterian,  the  Methodist,  and  the 
Baptist  Boards,  in  appealing  to  the  United  State  Government  to  aid 
in  preventing  the  exportation  of  distilled  liquors  to  Africa. 

Consul  William  W.  Long  of  Hamburg,  furnishes  the  Department 
of  State  with  the  following  statistics,  prepared  in  that  city,  of  the  ex- 
port of  intoxicants  from  Hamburg  alone  to  Africa,  in  quantities  of 
too  kilograms. 


Liquors. 



1884. 

1885. 

Cognac 

Rum 

Alcohol 

402 
in.  549 
10,498 
222,529 
6,312 

1 

194 

108,356 

7,218 

207,995 

7.105 

Cordials,  &c ! 

The  utterly  demoralizing  character  of  the  traffic  was  well  illus- 
trated the  other  day  when  a member  of  the  German  Parliament  de- 
fended himself  from  the  charge  of  sending  poisonous  brandy  to  Afri- 
ca, on  the  ground  that  he  had  never  sent  bad  brandy  to  any  of  the 
German  colonies,  but  only  to  the  French  colonies.  He  admitted  that 
to  these  latter  districts  he  had  shipped  rum  of  the  very  worst 
quality. 

The  trade  of  Europeans  with  Africa  is  most  unscrupulous. 
Every  steamer  that  touches  her  coasts  is  laden  with  gin,  whiskey, 
firearms  and  powder,  and  missionaries  are  helpless  to  contend 
against  tke'r  power  for  mischief  coming  from  their  country.  The 
only  two  agencies  able  to  protect  the  aborigines  against  this  destruc- 
tion that  “walketh  at  noon-day,”  which  is  even  worse  than  the 
“pestilence  that  walketh  in  darkness,”  are  the  Republic  of  Liberia  or 
colonies  like  that  and  the  Mohammedan  system.  The  encroachment 
of  Mohammedanism  upon  Sierra  Leone  is  rolling  back  to  the  sea  the 


MISSIONS. 


2 I 

liquor  traffic.  May  we  not  suppose  that  Providence  has  permitted 
the  development  of  this  religion  in  Africa,  to  save  millions  alive  and 
to  check  European  influence  until  by  the  spread  of  the  temperance 
reformation  in  Europe  and  America,  the  poison  shall  be  eliminated 
from  the  trade  of  Europe  and  America  with  Africa  ? 


MISSIONS. 

Each  of  the  prominent  missionary  societies  this  year  has  been 
marked  by  some  striking  feature  — mostly  the  enthusiasm  of  success 
— while  the  applicants  for  appointment  have  been  more  numerous 
and  of  higher  grade  than  ever. 

The  point  has  at  length  been  settled  that  mission  work,  in  order 
to  be  effective,  should  be  conducted  from  stations  far  inland.  The 
missions  which  have  thus  been  located  within  the  last  twelve  years, 
are  as  follows  : 

r.  The  Scotch  Churches,  ascending  the  Zambesi  and  Shire,  have 
founded  Livingstonia,  combining  a mission,  an  industrial  institution 
and  a Christian  trading  company.  2.  The  Church  of  England  has 
position  on  the  Victoria-Nvanza.  It  remains  yet  doubtful  whether 
the  best  route  thither  is  to  be  via  Zanzibar  or  Mombasa,  or  ulti- 
mately up  the  Nile,  over  the  way  made  famous  by  the  career  of 
General  Gordon.  3.  The  London  Society,  by  dint  of  great  outlay 
and  sacrifice,  is  on  lake  Tanganyika.  It  seems  probable  that  they 
wi  l in  the  future  make  use  of  the  Scotch  route,  through  lake 
Nyassa.  4.  The  Universities’ Mission,  v\ hich  Dr.  Livingstone  tried 
so  assiduously  to  aid  at  its  outset,  has  at  last  secured  good  footing, 
and  proceeding  from  Zanzibar,  by  the  Rovuma  river,  has  reached 
lake  Nyassa  and  launched  its  steamer,  the  Charles  Jansen.  5.  The 
American  Roard,  act  ing  from  Zululand,  seeks  new  ground  in  Urn- 
zila’s  kingdom.  6.  From  their  well-tilled  field  in  Basutoland  the 
French  missionaries  have  extended  operations  to  a point  on  the 
Upf  er  Zambesi.  7.  The  American  Board  has  entered  from  Benguela, 
on  the  west  coast,  and  though  once  repulsed,  has  conquered  a 
position  at  Bihe.  8.  The  English  Baptists  have  followed  Mr.  Stan- 
ley's track  up  the  Congo,  and  now  ply  their  steamer  above  Stanley 
Pool.  They  are  fixing  stations  at  remote  points.  9 The  American 
Baptists,  having  assumed  the  work  of  the  Livingstone  Inland  Mis 
sion,  are  operating  on  the  same  line  as  their  English  brethren.  10. 
The  Church  of  England  keeps  the  steamer  Henry  Venn  on  the 
Niger,  and  through  native  missionaries  under  the  lead  of  the  ven- 
erable Bishop  Crowther,  gains  sites  on  the  Upper  Niger. 


22 


MISSIONS. 


To  these  may  be  added,  the  steady  progress  from  Cape  Colony 
northward,  and  the  pressure  from  Liberia  and  Sierra  Leone  toward 
the  higher  positions.  The  advantages  of  inland  stations  are  numer- 
ous. The  climate  is  more  healthful  : the  people  are  there  : there  are 
the  seats  and  sources  of  the  heathenism  of  the  Continent : there  are 
the  roots  of  the  slave  trade  : the  feeble  streams  of  native  commerce 
are  eastward,  and  influences  proceeding  from  the  centre  will  be 
the  natural  migrations  and  movements  of  the  people. 

On  the  31st  of  October,  1885,  Bishop  James  Hannington,  of  the 
English  Church  Missionary  Society,  was  killed  at  Unyalla,  on  the 
north-east  shore  of  lake  Nfyanzt.  This  was  done  by  the  orders  of 
Mwanga,  the  young  King  of  Uganda,  son  and  successor  of  Mtesa.  Bish- 
op Hannington  was  trying  a shorter  route  from  the  coast  to  Uganda, 
starting  inland  from  Mombasa.  The  journey  had  hitherto  been 
made  from  Zanzibar  by  way  of  Mpwapwa,  and  had  occupied  three 
months.  To  the  Bishop's  adventurous  spirit  it  was  no  objection  that 
the  new  way  was  comparatively  unknown  and  dangerous.  Rev. 
Henry  P.  Parker  has  been  consecrated  to  the  Bishopric,  made  vacant 
by  Bishop  Hannington’s  death.  Mr.  Parker  was  graduated 
from  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  in  1875,  and  has  been  for 
several  years  at  work  in  Calcutta,  as  the  Secretary  there  of  the 
Church  Missionary  Society.  Mr.  Parker  is  thirty-four  years  of  age 
and  unmarried. 

The  Pope  has  ruled  that  the  Congo  State  forms,  from  an  eccles- 
iastical point  of  view,  part  of  Belgium,  and  that  the  clerical  jurisdic- 
tion in  it  belongs  to  the  Archmshop  of  Mechlin,  Primate  of  Belgium, 
who  accordingly  becomes  head  of  the  Catholic  clergy  in  the  State. 
The  African  seminary  of  the  University  of  Louvain  is  to  educate  the 
clergy  for  the  parishes  to  be  established  there.  The  Portuguese 
Government,  which  had  at  first  claimed  the  jurisdiction  in  question 
for  the  Portuguese  Primate,  has  agreed  to  this  arrangement. 

The  African  Lakes  Company,  which  is  a philanthropic  and  com- 
mercial organization  working  in  connection  with  the  Free  Church 
Mission  in  Eastern  Central  Africa,  has  sent  out  a new  steamer  to 
ply  on  the  Lower  Zambesi  river.  She  will  be  of  great  service  to  all 
the  missions  in  the  interior  that  are  to  be  reached  from  the  east  coast, 
and  will  be  able  not  only  to  carry  all  necessary  supplies  but  will  pass 
over  the  unhealthy  sections  of  the  Zambesi  with  speed,  so  saving 
much  time  and  also  much  peril  to  health.  She  is  built  on  a new  pat- 
tern, to  run  in  shoal  water,  and  is  called  the  James  Stevenson,  after  the 
well-known  gentleman  who  has  done  so  much  for  missions  and  com- 
merce in  Eastern  Africa.  The  same  African  Lakes  Company  are 


LIBERIA. 


2 3 


proposing  to  place  a new  steamer  on  lake  Nyassa,  as  the  Italia  is  now 
too  small  to  do  the  work  needed  there. 

Bishop  William  Taylor  is  gradually  making  his  way  into  the  re- 
gion watered  by  Africa’s  great  central  river.  On  June  n he  wrote 
from  “ Buvana,  mouth  of  the  Congo,”  that  he  is  distributing  his 
workers  among  various  ooints,  viz.:  four  at  Mamba,  three  at  Kabinda, 
and  others  at  two  or  three  other  points,  including  five  at  Malange, 
three  hundred  and  ninety  miles  inland  from  Loando,  reserving  ten 
whom  he  proposes  to  take  with  him  to  the  Upper  Congo,  a distance 
of  three  hundred  and  fifteen  miles,  going  as  far  as  Stanley  Pool.  He 
says  his  fifty-five  workers  for  the  opening  and  civilization  of  the 
Congo  country  are  all  in  good  health  and  are  working  from  five  to 
eight  hours  a day  in  the  sunshine,  besides  doing  work  in  other  hours 
of  the  day  in  the  shade.  They  clear,  dig,  and  til!  the  ground, — 
planting  corn,  sweet  potatoes,  yams  and  cassava,  fruit  trees  and  cof- 
fee. Then  they  build  houses,  handling  the  saw,  the  plane,  and  the 
hammer.  October  2d,  eight  missionaries  embarked  at  New  York  to 
reinforce  the  missions  of  the  heroic  Bishop. 

The  Methodist  E.  Church,  in  their  diminished  and  diminishing 
appropriations  for  the  Liberian  mission,  show  their  apprehension 
that  their  methods  are  ineffectual  against  the  odds  to  be  confronted. 
At  the  anunal  meeting  of  their  General  Missionary  Committee  they 
appropriated  only  $2,500  for  the  work  in  Africa,  and  $3,000  for  Bishop 
Taylor’s  salary,  For  mission  work  in  India,  $71,200.  for  China,  $60,- 
000;  for  Germany  and  Switzerland,  $24,000;  for  Sweden,  97,000 
crowns  ; for  Denmark,  $10,000  ; for  Norway,  $14,805  ; for  South  Arne-- 
ica,  $35,000.  With  reference  to  the  large  appropriations  made  for 
work  in  Europe,  Rev.  Dr.  Curry  made  the  striking  remark  that  “it 
is  carrying  coals  to  Newcastle.”  “ My  theory,”  he  said,  “ is  to  go  to 
the  most  needy  and  where  we  can  do  the  most  good.  I think  Afriac 
is  that  field.” 

LIBERIA. 

England  and  France  are  doing  all  thev  can  (France  is  even  more 
active  than  England)  to  divert  the  trade  of  Nigritia  to  their  colonies 
of  Senegal,  Goree,  Gambia,  and  Sierra  Leone,  by  annexations,  protec- 
torates and  military  occupations.*  But  no  artificial  divisions  or 
arrangements  of  the  country  can  interfere  with  or  neutralize  the  nat- 
ural or  geographical  conveniences.  Trade  will  take  the  direction 
which  traders  consider  e isier  and  more  profitable  to  them  in  spite  of 
nominal  political  relationships.  Liberia  is  in  more  easy  and  direct 
communication  with  the  wealthy  and  virgin  districts  of  Nigritia.  She 


*The  Mandingo  army  of  Sarcoid  a is  said  to  have  recently  driven  the  French 
from  the  gold  regions  of  Boure,  and  to  have  besieged  their  garrison  at  Bammakco. 


24 


LIBERIA. 


is  easily  accessible  to  the  enterprising,  intelligent  and  industrious 
Mandingoes,  whose  military  energy  and  political  genius  now  sway 
most  ol  the  country  east  and  north  of  Liberia,  extending  to  the  bor- 
ders of  Sierra  Leone  and  the  French  settlements,  astonishing  the 
agents  of  M.  de  Freycinet,  and  baffling  their  efforts  at  the  head  wa- 
ters of  the  Senegal,  interfering  with  their  railway  projects  and  inter- 
rupting their  telegraphic  communication  along  the  river. 

These  people  will  coalesce  with  Liberia.  When  larger  capital  is 
introduced  into  that  Republic  there  will  be  very  little  difficulty  in 
attracting  to  it  most  of  the  trade,  which  consists  of  cattle,  hides,  gold, 
ivory,  rubber,  gum  copal,  cotton,  leather,  palm  oil,  paltn  kernels,  &c. 
Politicians  and  merchants  at  Sierra  Leone  are  anticipating  this  and 
are  calling  the  attention  of  their  Government  to  the  possibilities  of 
Liberia.  From  the  Mandingo  country  to  the  Liberian  coast  the 
journey  is  through  fertile  and  well-watered  districts  where  rice  and 
other  provisions  are  plentiful,  differing  in  that  respect  from  the  un- 
cultivated and  hungry  regions  through  which  the  caravans  find  their 
way  to  Gambia  and  Sierra  Leone. 

The  men  who  have  guided  Liberia  since  the  death  of  the  last 
white  Governor,  in  1841,  were  all  educated  on  the  spot.  All  the 
Presidents  but  one  landed  in  Liberia  minors.  Joseph  J.  Roberts  was 
born  in  Virginia  in  1809,  emigrated  to  Liberia  in  1829,  a mechanic — 
learned  books  in  Liberia.  Stephen  A.  Benson,  Lorn  in  Maryland  in 
1816,  emigrated  in  1821.  Daniel  B.  Warner,  born  in  Maryland  in  8115. 
emigrated  in  1823.  James  S.  Payne,  born  in  Virginia  in  1820,  emigrated 
in  1829.  Anthony  W.  Gardner,  born  in  Virginia  in  1820.  emigrated 
in  1S31.  These  facts  mean  that  the  men  for  the  work  in  Africa  must 
be  brought  up  in  Africa. 

The  English  language  will  prevail  in  Africa  before  very  long. 
England  and  America  will  dominate  the  world.  Liberia  will  long  con- 
tinue to  be  an  intellectual  colony  of  the  United  States  and  England.  Be- 
sides direct  importations  of  literature  from  England,  she  receives 
American  reprints  of  English  books  and  periodicals.  Shakspearef 
Milton  and  Macauley  stand  on  the  shelves  of  her  foremost  citizens 
side  by  side  with  Longfellow,  Bryant  and  Lowell,  so  that  in  spite  of 
race  differences,  and  the  unfortunate  “ previous  condition  ” of  their 
relations  in  America,  they  must  enjoy  through  the  languages  they 
speak  and  the  books  they  read,  the  religion  they  profess  and  the 
songs,  sacred  and  secular,  which  they  sing,  a community  of  intellect- 
ual domain  with  the  great  Anglo-Saxon  naiions. 

COLONIZATION. 

Africa  is  the  most  singular  in  form  of  all  the  continents.  It  pro- 
jects into  the  ocean  no  important  peninsula,  nor  does  it  anywhere 


COLONIZATION. 


25 


let  in  the  waters  of  the  ocean.  It  seems  to  close  itself  against  every 
influence  from  without.  Thus  the  extension  of  the  line  of  its  coasts, 
is  only  14,000  geographical  miles  for  a surface  of  8,720,000  square 
miles,  so  that  Africa  has  only  one  mile  of  coast  for  six  hundred  and 
twenty-three  square  miles  of  surface.  Europe  is  only  one-third  the 
size  of  Africa.  But  its  principal  mass  is  deeply  cut  in  all  parts  by  the 
ocean  and  inland  seas  having  outlets  to  the  ocean,  The  line  of  its 
shore  is  thus  carried  to  the  extent  of  17,200  miles,  an  enormous  propor- 
tion compared  to  its  size.  While  Africa  has  only  one  mile  of  coast 
for  six  hundred  and  twenty-three  square  miles  of  suiface,  Europe 
enjoys  one  mile  of  coast  for  every  one  hundred  and  fifty  square  miles 
of  surface.  Although  one-third  the  size  of  Africa  it  has  3,200  miles 
of  coast  more  than  Africa.  Besides  her  littoral  disadvantages  Africa 
is  guarded  by  a belt  of  malarious  lands  which  fringes  her  eastern  and 
western  borders,  and  the  north  by  a desert  of  sand,  which  the  modern 
ingenuity  of  Europe  has  in  vain  attempted  to  flood. 

These  facts  not  only  show  why  Africa  has  been  through  the  ages 
destitute  of  commerce  and  trade — and  therefore  backward  in  the 
march  of  nations  : but  they  prove  also  that  it  is  impossible  for  Afri- 
cans to  become  a commercial  and  enterprising  people  until  the 
country  first  becomes  civilized  so  as  to  remedy  by  the  arts  of  civilization, 
especially  by  railroads,  the  natural  hindrances  and  obstruction  to  inter- 
communication. But  how  is  this  civilization  to  be  brought  about  ? 
Well,  if  this  question  had  been  put  four  hundred  years  ago  it  would 
have  been  impossible  to  answer  it.  Four  hundred  years  ago,  America 
had  not  been  discovered  and  the  slave-trade  had  not  commenced. 
But  the  prosecution  of  that  nefarious  traffic  took  millions  of 
Africa’s  sons  to  America,  where  they  were  brought  into  contact  with 
civilization  and  Christianity.  They  are  being  prepared  for  work  at 
home.  Their  preparation  is  not  yet  complete. 

Meanwhile,  Europeans  are  making  experiments  in  Africa.  They 
are  trying  by  their  treasure,  and  by  their  arts  and  science  to  overcome 
the  obstacles  of  nature.  They  are  expending  millions  in  the  Congo 
country  to  supply  the  facilities  for  entrance  into  and  locomotion  in 
the  interior  which  nature  has  not  furnished.  But  after  they  have 
brought  into  the  country  all  that  money  and  skill  can  bring — then 
the  insuperable  difficulty  remains,  their  lack  of  constitutional 
adaptation  to  the  climate.  The  indomitable  will  and  energy  of 
the  European  will  not  allow  him  to  see  when  he  is  conquered.  But 
a fsw  more  years  of  experiment  and  suffering  and  loss  will  convince 
him  that  he,  with  the  noblest  aims  and  loftiest  purposes,  cannot  do 
the  work. 

The  man  adapted  to  the  climate  is  away  from  home  being 
trained  for  the  work.  He  is  being  educated  in  the  art  of  agriculture 


26 


COLONIZATION. 


— the  very  thing  that  is  destined  to  bring  Africa  into  contact  with 
other  countries.  Millions  and  millions  of  acres  of  fertile  lands  are 
awaiting  his  energy  and  skill.  He  is  learning  the  mechanic  arts — 
getting  a practical  knowledge  of  the  sciences — learning  science  in  its 
application — by  actual  practice.  He  did  not  attend  any  Universities 
for  the  study  of  the  sciences — but  his  master,  for  his  own  interest,  was 
obliged  to  have  him  instructed  in  the  field,  in  the  shop,  on  the  roads. 
And  now  with  his  practical  knowledge  he  knows  how  to  carry  on 
many  of  the  necessary  enterprises  of  civilization.  He  can  build 
bridges,  construct  arches,  rear  colums,  erect  buildings.  From  the 
force  of  the  circumstances  in  which  he  has  been  placed  he  has  not 
only  been  Christianized  but  civilized,  qualified  to  organize  civilized 
communities — to  cultivate  the  soil,  build  cities,  engage  in  trade, 
regulate  commerce,  make  laws  and  enforce  authority. 

The  time  has  come,  or  is  rapidly  coming,  for  the  return  of  the 
exiles,  and  God  is  raising  up  agents  to  promote  it.  He  who  per- 
mitted them  to  be  “ torn  from  the  land”  for  the  purposes  of  training 
will  find  the  means  to  take  them  back.  Those  who  cannot  see  this 
must  be  blind  to  design  in  Providence,  and  must  loosely  consider 
matters  as  going  on  at  haphazard. 


Note.  Thanks  are  cordially  expressed  to  the  Missionary  Herald 
of  Boston ; Foreign  Missionary  of  New  York ; African  Times 
of  London  and  L’ Africque  of  Geneva,  for  facts  and  figures  freely 
incorporated  in  this  paper. 


SEVENTH  ANNUAL  PAPER. 


27 


( Editorial  from  The  Sun,  of  Baltimore. ) 

SEVENTH  ANNUAL  PAPER  ON  AFRICA. 

The  Dark  Continent. — In  his  seventh  annual  paper  upon  the 
“ Dark  Continent,”  a part  of  which  is  published  in  to-day’s  Sun,  Mr. 
Coppinger,  Secretary  of  the  American  Colonization  Society,  presents  an 
interesting  resume  of  the  political  events  and  geographical  discover- 
ies that  constitute  the  history  of  Eastern,  Western  and  Central  Afri- 
ca during  the  past  year.  The  conclusions  reached  at  the  Berlin 
Congress  in  regard  to  the  bounds  and  status  of  the  Congo  Free  State 
were  in  April  last  formally  ratified  by  all  the  Governments  represent- 
ed at  that  Congress,  with  the  exception  only  of  the  United  States- 
The  extensive  territories  held  by  Great  Britain  on  the  Niger  have 
been  bestowed  by  that  Power  upon  the  Royal  Niger  Company,  to 
administer  and  develop.  Germany  and  France  have  amicably  ad- 
justed their  disputes  as  to  the  limits  of  their  respective  African  ter- 
ritories. Explorers  have  been  busy  during  the  year,  with  the  result 
that  light  has  been  thrown  upon  many  puzzling  questions  of  geogra- 
phy and  ethnology.  January  17,  1687. 

The  New  Africa. — The  second  and  last  part  of  the  seventh 
annual  paper  of  Mr.  William  Coppinger,  Secretary  of  the  American 
Colonization  Society,  on  “The  New  Africa,”  is  given  in  The  Sun  to-day 
It  treats  of  the  possible  influence  of  Germany  upon  the  future  devel- 
opment of  the  “Dark  Continent;”  the  action  of  the  African  climate 
upon  Europeans  ; the  condition  and  prospects  of  African  trade;  the 
evils  of  of  the  rum  traffic  and  the  efforts  being  made  to  restrict  or 
suppress  it;  the  general  progress  made  by  various  missions;  the  con- 
dition and  prospects  of  Liberia,  and  the  general  progress  of  African 
Colonization.  Altogether  the  paper  is  one  of  the  most  interesting 
that  has  been  written  by  Mr.  Coppinger.  January  20,  1887. 


. 


A 


